Music page and hinged corner tab therefor



y 1951 D. R. M PHERSON 2,559,726

MUSIC PAGE AND HINGED CORNER TAB THEREFOR Filed Jan. 16, 1948 1/E/\/7UP? DONALD- R. M s PHERSON Patented July 10, 1951 OFFICE MUSIC PAGE ANDHINGED CORNER TAB THEREFOR Donald R. McPherson, Portland, Oreg.

Application January 16, 1948, Serial No. 2,725

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a novel and improved hinged corner tab formusic pages and the like to facilitate the turning of the pages.

Objects of the invention are to provide a hinged tab of the typedescribed which is easier to grasp in turning the page than the cornerof the page itself, to provide a hinged tab having sufficientflexibility in the hinge to allow the tab to fall out from a foldedposition, with the page supported in a more or less upright position,when the tab is uncovered by the turning of the previous page, toprovide a neat and durable tab Which may be applied to a page having amutilated or torn corner and which will not further tear or weaken thepage, and to provide a tab secured to the corner of a page by a strip ofhinge tape.

The invention in its preferred embodiment comprises a triangular cornertab adapted to be secured by a flexible fabric hinge to the lowerright-hand corner of a page such as a music page. To apply the presenttab to the page, it is preferred, first, to affix the tab to the backside of the page by means of hinge tape or the like. Then the tab isfolded back and the projecting triangular corner of the page is cut off.Such a hinge is considerably more flexible and durable than the materialof the page itself, and the tab is preferably made of a material havinga smooth, hard surface which will not soil from the fingers.

In practicing the invention, one of the tabs is afiixed to the lowerright-hand corner of each page of music, and prior to placing the musicon the music rack or stand each of the tabs is folded over to lie on thetop side of the page to which it is attached. Thus, as each page isturned, while it is in a more or less upright position, the tab on thenext page will fall out in a position to be grasped easily while thetabs on the following pages will be held in their folded andinaccessible positions. With the use of this device, the musician canturn the pages easily and quickly without the possibility of turningmore than one page at a time because only the tab on the top page is ina position to be grasped.

Additional features and advantages will become apparent as thedescription proceeds in connection with the accompanying drawingsillustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention. It is to beunderstood, however, that the invention may take various forms inaddition to the illustrated embodiment and all such modifications withinthe scope of the appended claims are included in the invention.

2 In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation view of a music book incorporating thefeatures of the invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view, taken on the line2-2 of Figure 1, showing the corner of the page to which the inventionis applied;

Figure 3 is an enlarged View of the back side of the tab and the cornerof the page, witha portion of the hinge tape peeled back to show themanner in which the tab is attached to the page;

Figure 4 shows the manner in which the corner of each page is cut oifpreparatory to applying the present tabs; and

Figure 5 is a view of one of the tabs equipped with a strip of hingetape for application to the page shown in Figure 4.

Figure 1 shows a music book standing in a substantially verticalposition and opened to the pages I 9 and H. The page H] has just beenturned from a position on top of the page H, which former position ofthe page I0 is shown in phantom in Figure 2. Beneath the page II are thepages [2 and I3 and the back cover M. A tab i5 is secured by a strip ofhinge tape is to the lower corner of each page, and in arranging themusic on the music stand each tab is folded over on the front side ofthe page to which it is attached, as shown in Figure 2. Thus, be-

\ fore the page [0 was lifted from the page II, the tab IE on the page Il was held folded back against the page as indicated at [5a by phantomlines. Upon lifting the page ID, the tab 15 on the page H is releasedfrom its folded position at [5a and allowed to fall down to its fullline position. When it is time to turn the page H, its tab I5 is thenthe only tab available to grasp as the tabs on pages [2 and i3 remainfolded back in inaccessible positions. When the page H is lifted andturned, the tab on page [2 falls down, and

so on. As the pages are turned one by one, the

tab on the next page is released, the underneath tabs meanwhile beingheld folded back so that at any time only one tab is available to bepicked up on the right side of the book.

Figures 3 to 5 show a preferred form of construction for accomplishingthe above described mode of operation. Figure 3 shows the back side ofpage Iii lying in the same position illustrated in Figure 1. Thetriangular tab 15 is secured to the corner of the back side of page Itby a strip of hinge tape I6 having a pair of parallel, adhesive coatedbands I! and !8 interconnected by transverse, uncoated threads 20. Inapplying the tape to the parts, the hypotenusal edge 2| of thetriangular tab [5 is preferably spaced from the diagonally out edge 22of the page 19 by a distance slightly greater than the combinedthicknesses of the tab and page so that the hinge threads 20 will allowthe tab to lie back flat against the front side of the page, as shown inFigure 2. In the type of hinge tape preferred for this purpose, thetransverse threads 29 comprising the hinge portion of the tape have noadhesive coating applied thereto and are very limp and flexible toprovide a hinge of great flexibility and substantially no inherentstiffness.

The tab l5 may be formed of any suitable material but it is preferred touse a material having a hard and smooth surface which will not soil,such as synthetic plastic sheet material of suitable thickness, althoughno limitation is made to the use of any particular material. For a bookof few pages the tabs may be made of relatively thick material so thatthe combined thickness of the tabs will hold the uppermost page and itstab out away from the back cover M, as shown in Figure 2, making it moreeasily grasped than if the pages were lying flat to gether in theirnormal thickness. In a book of many pages it is desirable to make thetabs of thin material to avoid excessive thickness in one corner of thebook, each tab preferably being dispose-din the plane of its page whenit is unfolded.

Figure 5 shows a form in which the present tabs may be manufactured tobe applied to music pages which are not already provided therewith. Themusic page is first prepared as shown in Figure i by cutting off thelower righthand corner at a 45 angle to leave the diagonal edge 22,already mentioned, in connection with Figure 3. A tab l5, having theband 58 of the tape I6 already applied thereto, is brought up to thepage shown in Figure i, with the edge 2! ofthe tab parallel with theedge 22 of the page, and with the adhesive band ll disposed along theedge 22 underneath the page. The adhesive band I! is then afiixed to thepage so that the side edges of the tab !5 are parallel with the bottomand side edges of the page to complete the original square corner withthe tab in the plane of the page. In order to obtain this alignment andto obtain at the same time the desired spacing between the edges 2! and22 to allow room for the hinge action of the tape, the triangular pieceof paper out from the corner of the page is larger than the tab H? bythe amount f the gap which is to be allowed between the edges 2| and 22.

The portion of music page shown in Figure 4 is designated as page I Ibecause it lies in the same position as the page I l in Figure 1 whichhas not been turned, whereas the portion of page illustrated in Figure 3has been designated as page IE] because this View shows the back side ofa page which has already been turned to the position of the page H] inFigure 1. The tabs for all the pages are identical and are all appliedin the same manner, but it is, of course, not essential to use theparticular style of tape shown in Figure 3 to practice the invention.The tape it may be made an integral part of the tab l5, and the band llmay be left uncoated, if desired, suitable adhesive being applied by theuser.

The present tabs may advantageously be applied to old and worn pageswhere the lower corners are soiled and torn, because the worn portion isout off and is not required for attaching the tab. Even on an old andmuch used book,

the page is usually in good condition for attaching the tab at adistance back from the corner. Tabs have heretofore been proposed whichhad to be attached in the very corner and hence to the weakest part of aworn page, which is unsatisfactory, and which has the furtherdisadvantage of stiffening the corner and causing the page to bendsharply at the edge of the tab. "when paper is bent repeatedly on thesame fold line, it becomes weakened and tears apart, making such tabs nobetter than a turned up corner n the page itself. After a little usesuch tabs tear off and cannot be put back because the necessary part ofthe page is gone.

In the present tab the hinge threads 20 are much more flexible than thepaper of the page, and exceedingly more durable. Because of the greatflexibility of the hinge, there is no tendency for the paper to bendsharply at the edge of the tape, and the useful life of the page isgreatly prolonged. Sheet music and music books are relatively expensivein the first place, and are often difiicult or impossible to replace,making it highly desirable to extend the life of the book as long aspossible. The present tabs will preserve their neat and clean appearanceindefinitely as they are in no way damaged by ordinary usage.

Having now described my invention and in what manner the same may beused, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A hinge tab for application to a music page and the like tofacilitate turning the page, comprising a right triangularly shaped tabof stiff material, a strip of fabric secured to the hypotenusal side ofsaid tab and providing a relatively flexible hinge member for said tab,and an adhesive band connected with and on the opposite side of saidhinge from said tab and extendin parallel to said side, said tab havingsufficient weight to fall down freely from an upturned position whensaid band is attached to the bottom corner of a page.

2. A hinge tab for use on a music page and the like to facilitateturning the page, comprising a right triangular tab having a strip ofhinge tape secured along the hypotenusal side thereof with an adhesivecoated portion of said tape extending parallel to said side of said taband spaced from said edge by the width of the hinge portion of saidtape, the hinge portion of said tape having suflicient flexibility andsaid tab having sumcient weight to cause said tab to fall by its ownweight when released from an upturned position.

3. In a page for a music book and the like, a beveled bottom corner onsaid page, and a triangular tab attached to said page in edge to edgerelation by a hinged joint and adapted to fold back fiat against saidpage, said tab having sufficient weight in relation to the flexibilityof the hinge to fall freely from said folded position to form a bottomcorner on the page in alignment with its bottom and side edges.

4. A hinge tab for the corner of a music page and the like, comprising atriangular tab, and a strip of fabric tape secured to the hypotenusalside of said tab and providing a hinge member for attaching said tab tothe free lower corner of the page so that said tab will fold flatagainst the top surface of the page, said hinge member having sufficientflexibility and said tab having sufficient weight to cause said tab tofall by its own weight when released from said folded position.

5. For use on a music page and the like, a

right triangular tab of relatively stiff plastic material, a strip ofhinge tape secured to said tab along its hypotenusal edge, anon-adhesive hinge portion of said tape parallel to and adjacent saidedge, and an adhesive portion of said tape spaced from said edge by thewidth of said hinge portion for securing said tab to said page in edgeto edge relation.

6. In a music page and the like, a beveled bottom corner on said page, atriangular tab to fit in said corner Within the rectangular outline ofthe page, and a strip of hinge tape flexibly securing said tab to thebeveled corner of said page in the plane of said page, said tab beingspaced from the edge of said beveled corner by the width of the hingeportion of said tape and forming a bottom corner on said page inalignment with its bottom and side edges.

7. A corner tab for the pages of a book and the like, comprising atriangular tab of hard surfaced, durable material, a band of materialfor adhesively securing said tab to a page in the REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 176,005 Jones Apr. 11, 1876664,501 Rand Dec. 25, 1900 2,122,004 DeGive June 28, 1938 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 7,338 Great Britain 1896

